All U.S. patents cited herein are hereby fully incorporated by reference.
Inflatable protective cushions used in passenger vehicles are a component of relatively complex passive restraint systems. The main elements of these systems are: an impact sensing system, an ignition system, a propellant material, an attachment device, a system enclosure, and an inflatable protective cushion. Upon sensing an impact, the propellant is ignited causing an explosive release of gases filling the cushion to a deployed state which can absorb the impact of the forward movement of a body and dissipate its energy by means of rapid venting of the gas. The entire sequence of events occurs within about 30 milliseconds. In the undeployed state, the cushion is stored in or near the steering column, the dashboard, in a door, or in the back of a front seat placing the cushion in close proximity to the person or object it is to protect.
Inflatable cushion systems commonly referred to as air bag systems have been used in the past to protect both the operator of the vehicle and passengers. Systems for the protection of the vehicle operator have typically been mounted in the steering column of the vehicle and have utilized cushion constructions directly deployable towards the driver. These driver-side cushions are typically of a relatively simple configuration in that they function over a fairly small well-defined area between the driver and the steering column. One such configuration is disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,533,755 to Nelsen et al., issued Jul. 9, 1996, the teaching; of which are incorporated herein by reference.
Inflatable cushions for use in the protection of passengers against frontal or side impacts must generally have a more complex configuration since the position of a vehicle passenger may not be well defined and greater distance may exist between the passenger and the surface of the vehicle against which that passenger might be thrown in the event of a collision. Prior cushions for use in such environments are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 5,520,416 to Bishop, issued May 28, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,454,594 to Krickl issued Oct. 3, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,423,273 to Hawthorn et al. issued Jun. 13, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,316,337 to Yamaji et al. issued May 31, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 5,310,216 to Wehner et al. issued May 10, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 5,090,729 to Watanabe issued Feb. 25, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,087,071 to Wallner et al. issued Feb. 11, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 4,944,529 to Backhaus issued Jul. 31, 1990; and U.S. Pat. No. 3,792,873 to Buchner et al. issued Feb. 19, 1974, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
The majority of commercially used restraint cushions are formed of woven fabric materials utilizing multifilament synthetic yarns of materials such as polyester, nylon 6 or nylon 6,6 polymers. Representative fabrics for such use are disclosed in U.S. Pat. No. 4,921,735 to Bloch issued May 1, 1990; U.S. Pat. No. 5,093,163 to Krummheuer et al. issued Mar. 3, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,110,666 to Menzel et al. issued May 5, 1992; U.S. Pat. No. 5,236,775 to Swoboda et al. Aug. 17, 1993; U.S. Pat. No. 5,277,230 to Sollars, Jr. issued Jan. 11, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 5,356,680 to Krummheuer et al. Oct. 18, 1994; U.S. Pat. No. 5,477,890 to Krummheuer et al. issued Dec. 26, 1995; U.S. Pat. No. 5,508,073 to Krummheuer et al., issued Apr. 16, 1996; U.S. Pat. No. 5,503,197 to Bower et al. issued Apr. 2, 1996 and U.S. Pat. No. 5,704,402 to Bowen et al. issued Jan. 6, 1998, all of which are incorporated herein by reference.
As will be appreciated, the permeability of the cushion structure is an important factor in determining the rate of inflation and subsequent rapid deflation following the impact event. In order to control the overall permeability of the cushion, it may be desirable to use differing materials in different regions of the cushion. Thus, the use of several fabric panels in construction of the cushion may prove to be a useful design feature. The use of multiple fabric panels in the cushion structure also permits the development of relatively complex three dimensional geometries which maybe of benefit in the formation of cushions for passenger side applications wherein a full bodied cushion is desired. While the use of multiple fabric panels provides several advantages in terms of permeability manipulation and geometric design, the use of multiple fabric panels for use in passenger side restraint cushions has historically required the assembly of panels having multiple different geometries involving multiple curved seams.
As will be appreciated, an important consideration in cutting panel structures from a base material is the ability to maximize the number of panels which can be cut from a fixed area through close-packed nesting of the panels. It has been found that minimizing the number of different geometries making up panels in the cushion and using geometries with substantially straight line perimeter configurations generally permits an enhanced number of panels to be cut from the base material. The use of panels having generally straight line profiles has the added benefit of permitting the panels to be attached to one another using substantially straight seams or be substantially formed during the weaving process using a jacquard or dobby loom. Such a straight seam configuration provides a more cost-effective method of producing such airbags. The term “seam” denotes any manner or method of connecting separate fabric panels or separate portions of a single fabric panel. Thus, sewing (with thread, for example), welding (with ultrasonic stitching, for example), or weaving panels or portions together (with a jacquard or dobby loom, for example), and the like, may be employed for this purpose.
However even with the utilization of substantially straight seams to produce airbags cushions, a problem still resides in the need for labor-intensive cutting and sewing operations for large-scale manufacture. Furthermore, since the costs of producing airbag fabrics are relatively high and there is a general need to reduce such costs, there is a consequent need to more efficiently make use of the fabric by lowering the amount which needs to be cut (cutting operations also translate into higher labor costs), reducing the amount of fabric used in order to provide substantially lower packing volumes (in order to reduce the size of the airbag modules in cars since available space on dashboards, doors, and the like, are at a premium within automobiles), and reducing the shipping weight of such products (which translates into lower shipping costs), as well as other highly desired reasons. However, it has been problematic to reduce such utilized fabric amounts in the past without consequently also reducing the available inflation airspace volume within the cushion product. There is a need then to reduce the amount of time to produce airbag cushions while simultaneously providing the lowest amount of fabric and simultaneously allow for a sufficient volume of air (gas) to inflate the target airbag cushion during an inflation event (herein described as “available inflation airspace””). Such a desired method and product has not been available, particularly for passenger-side airbags which, as noted previously require a greater amount of fabric for larger volumes of air (gas) to provide the greatest amount of protection area to a passenger. With greater amounts of fabric needed, generally this has translated into the need for longer seams to connect and attach fabric panels, which in turn translates into greater amounts of time needed for sewing, and the like, operations. Furthermore, there has not been any discussion within the prior art of the possibility of simultaneously reducing the amount of the required amount of utilized fabric while providing sufficient volumes of available inflation airspace within the target airbag cushion. Thus, a need exists to produce high available inflation airspace volume airbag cushions with a minimal requirement in fabric utilization to manufacture the overall cushion product. As noted above, the prior art has not accorded any advancements or even discussions to this effect.